Monday, July 30, 2007

Happy Scrappy Houses, Too!

The top is done! So far I think this has been my favorite quilt to "re-make" for workshop demos. It uses up a ton of 2" strips....and a gazillion pre-cut 2" background light squares, colored 2" squares for the windows, 2" squares for the chimneys, and 2"X3.5" pre-cut bricks for the doors. It was a wonderland of mix & match!

I love scrap quilts because of the riot of color, I think. I put fabrics together that I probably never would for a "whole quilt" type color scheme. I broke every self-imposed rule I could come up with...including using the back side of the fabric (not always on purpose!) Mixing batiks and metallics with 1980's and 1990's calicoes, and even some novelty prints! A while back I needed to borrow some fabric from Lucy. Okay...I was begging for fabric from Lucy! And she said she was happy to give me what I wanted, but along with that piece, I HAD to take one of her "ugh!!" fabrics and I had to use it. That fabric got cut up into 2" squares and I have used it now and again in projects, always laughing while sewing it in, remembering the fun time we had while she was trying to force it on me and I was trying to give it back to her, or leave it behind by "mistake" :D

I used that "ugh" fabric for the window in the green house block above!I also did a house that reminds me so much of my friend Tonya....I had a brick that had little bright neon frogs on it...so that became a door on this block!The last time I was at Tonya's and we were sewing with my crumbs, I had made some wonky star blocks just for fun. They got set aside......when I picked the blue fabric for the outer border on this Happy Scrappy Houses quilt, There would ONLY be enough if I used contrasting cornerstones. Plain fabric cornerstones looked boring...so I pulled these little wonky star blocks out and set them in the corners. Now I have that memory of sewing with Tonya in this quilt too.

I love music! So it was fun to make a house using this strip of blue music fabric.

All of the cornerstones came randomly from the 2.5" scrap square bin. I did end up buying the sashing fabric (on sale at Joanne's) and there is NONE left...what little bit there was is now cut into strips and put into the strip bins.

I need to do some more scrap cutting since I weeded through my FQ's when Lucy was here in April. All of those "CUT THIS UP AND USE IT!" pieces are in a laundry basket sitting on my floor here. The task feels daunting! But it will be fun having new strips, squares and bricks to work into future projects.

On Aug 9th I am heading up to Maryland to teach two workshops and do a couple of trunk shows! I'll be gone about a week, and I am really looking forward to the trip!

15 comments:

Great quilt top. No one would guess how many reject/ugh fabrics are in there if you didn't tell them - they all work so well together and look so fun. Love that froggy doorway. Great memories in that quilt top!

The houses look great - I love having a quilt with *memories* sewn in and frequently use a bit of fabric here and there just for that reason.

I was making a pineapple quilt earlier this year as I was finishing up the quilting on one of my oldest UFO's (there was a reason it hadn't ever been finished but I was tired of having it on the list and in the closet) I sewed a bit of that fabric into my pineapple to commemorate the occasion!

It's wonderful! Lots of stories to tell in it which makes it extra special - fabric can really bring back memories!!

I would love to make one these tops. When I originally saw this pattern of yours I thought I would make it for my MIL because she lived in a wonky house, but with all the trouble that a wonky house brings I thought it might not be such a good idea after all.

I loved your wonky houses Bonnie- the funny thing about ugly fabrics ( I don't mind your window fabric) - sometimes it just needs to be used in the right place or in small amounts- As always you have made a colorful and beautiful quilt.Regards from a Western Canadian quilter,Anna